I’m a bit late in writing this, but last Wednesday night I went to The Harvest – an event that Sean Moffitt invited me to.

The wine was available (some was good, some wasn’t…but all of it was VQA from various Vincor brands) the food was DELISH, but the company was the highlight of the evening. I met some fantastic Toronto tweeps (Casie Stewart, Jeremy Wright, ClickFlick I’m looking at you!) who made the night a ton of fun. Check out Casie’s take on the evening here.

In terms of event programming, maybe a few too many speakers after a few too many glasses of wine, but the best part was by far the panel which included a couple of Canada’s very well known winexperts (I like to make up words sometimes). I asked them their favorite BC wines, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what Mark Moffatt said when I got home (note: bring a pen Kat, also don’t drink so much wine). If anyone who was at the event reads this and remembers, let me know!!

The Harvest later sparked some minor controversy in twitter land, but I’m going to avoid all that here and just say that the event was fun and I had a good time. Because it was and I did.

Plus, I won stuff!! A cookbook – Anita Stewart’s Canada and 30 bottles of wine! More to come on that.

Tonight I sent a tweet out saying that I found Angels Gate 2007 Cabernet Merlot VQA “yummy”. I thought this was a bit of a cop-out, considering there are so many other potential descriptor options for this wine (other words that come to mind include fruity/berry and a bit of oak) but really, I just found it “yummy”.

To my slight surprise I had a number of people on Twitter reply to me and say that yummy was in fact, often a good choice for a descriptor when it comes to wine.

Good to know it’s not just me. Sometimes wine is just yummy!

This past Tuesday night in Toronto I joined the group gathered at the Fine Wine Reserve for WineCampTO2. My first Camp experience and I had a really great time. Met lots of great people, tasted some really great wines and learned lots from some of the areas best.

First, wine critic/write extraordinaire (and VP of Wine at WineAlign.com) David Lawrason was on-hand to chat about the Ontario wine industry – where it’s been, where it’s going. David touched on the current hot topic of Cellared in Canada wines, which he said outsell VQA wines 6:1 in Ontario. I tried to get David to secretly tell me the winner for Winery of the Year at Canadian Wine Awards, which he just finished judging recently, but no luck. David was tight-lipped about the overall winner. He did share that the pinot noir was the best in the eight years the awards have been running and that Syrah was the ‘killer flight’.

Ann Sperling, Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Southbrook Vineyards was also at the event and told us of her childhood on a winery in the Okanagan and riding horses through the vineyards – she clearly has wine in her blood (lucky)! Ann she talked about Southbrook’s journey to becoming a bio-dynamic winery, which some say is like being “organic but with hocus pocus”. Whatever it is, it’s working for Ann and her team at Southbrook. We were among the first to taste the 2008 Estate Merlot, which was delightful.

Ann mentioned the Southbrook has a Cellared in Canada license, but abandoned the use of it years ago.

No wine event would be complete without cheese. Krista Broadhurst, a rep for Ravine Vineyard and Assistant Sommelier at Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar brought some amazing selections of cheese to pair with a 2006 Riesling from Ravine. The Riesling was delish on it’s own, but I’m never going to say no to cheese with wine. Krista brought Niagara Gold and 1608 with her – both artisan semi-firm wash-rind cheeses. The 1608 was my favorite.

I can’t finish this without mentioning the AMAZING venue that WineCamp was located in. It was like Fort Knox for wine. Millions of dollars of wine inside individual cellar spaces for those who are really, REALLY serious about their wine collections. One false move and alarms would sound. I would have loved a tour – hopefully at WineCampTO3.

Tags: winecampto2

I’m in (very hot) BC for the next couple of weeks…while my main reason to be here is to spend time with mon amour, traveling and tasting as many BC wines are next on the list.

Our travels will take us from Kamloops to Bella Coola, then to Vancouver Island – Port Hardy, Campbell River, Tofino, Qualicum Beach/Parksville, Victoria and finally back to Van city.

I’m super excited about the BC VQA store in Parksville… I’ll have to plot how to eliminate some of the luggage I’m carrying so there is extra room in my suitcase and I can pack as much of it as possible.

The first wine I tried was Prospect Winery Major Allen 2007 Merlot. The wine was seriously delish. It stood up. I can see why the 2006 vintage was award winning. In the words of the boyfriend: “Prospect wine, very yummy.”

Tags: Add new tag, BC VQA, Prospect Winery, Travel

Recently my favorite LCBO Vintages advisor, Terry, suggested I try Vinho Verde instead of a rosé – as there were apparently no rosé wines in the entire LCBO store that lived up to Terry’s expectations. He explained that the Portuguese wine is extremely light and lovely for summer sipping. Terry suggested I drink it with garlic butter shrimps or octopus. It was >$10.

I did a quick search on the wine, and found on wikipedia that it’s name literally means “Green Wine”, referring to its youthful freshness rather than its color.

I enjoyed the bottle (yes, all of it, but hey – it’s only 9%!) on the dock at my friend Martina’s cottage and it was indeed a lovely summer afternoon drink. I found it very refreshing – partly because of the very slight hint of bubbles – and it was easy to drink.

Vinho Verde is something I’ll try again this summer – in fact, there’s a bottle chilling in my fridge already.

Well, not really… but I’ve been absent from posting here for the past month, so I thought I would blame my delinquency on the significantly large amount of Fuzion wine I’ve consumed. The Shiraz and Malbec blend wine is really quite good for the price – a crazy $7.45 per bottle. It’s versatile and goes well with a variety of foods and moods.

I’m not the only one to catch the Fuzion craze… the Toronto Star reported that the wine is the fourth most popular product at the LCBO (after Heineken, Smirnoff and Corona) and that the LCBO sells 1,000+ cases a day. I wonder how long this can possibly last for? And apparently, Quebec is (again) ahead of Ontario and Fuzion has already been a top-seller there.

I picked up a bottle of the Fuzion Syrah Rosé last weekend, but haven’t had the opportunity to test it out. I’ll let you know what I think.

I tried the Mission Hill 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve this evening. I’ve heard how great Mission Hill wines are, but this was my first taste. It completely lived up to the hype. The wine was full-bodied, had an amazing oak taste and went beautifully with the steak I bought it for – everything I love in a Saturday evening wine.

I was surprised to see the wine at the LCBO in London en route to my parents house in the country, as the LCBO barely offers any Canadian wines from outside of Ontario. It cost about $23 – and worth every penny, I LOVED IT!

Speaking of BC wines, I have to mention two other wines I had recently while I was in BC. The Sumac Ridge Private Reserve Merlot Cabernet – which was awesome and I sipped happily for a few nights while listening to the rain in the mountains in Bella Coola. Sumac Ridge Winery is very well known and makes an excellent vintage.

Also tried the Calona Vineyards Artist Series 2007 Pinot Noir – which I took for Easter dinner and was yummy and fruity and a plesant addition to the turkey dinner.

I can’t wait to try more BC wines the next time I’m there – or luck out and find another bottle on the shelf at the LCBO.

Tags: #mission hill #BC wines #sumac ridge #calona vineyards

Torontonians are in for a treat in a couple of weeks – Salute Wine + Food Festival is running May 4-9th.

The festival calls itself “a lifestyle event that offers one-on-one access to an exciting world of wine craftsmen, renowned chefs, fine dining, first-rate shopping and stylish tastings.”

Salute offers everything from fancy sit-down dinners to wine and cheese pairing seminars to the Food Network’s Ultimate Kitchen Party. There’s something for everyone!

Featured wines will be from the sponsor associations from Prince Edward County and the Wine of Argentina.

Tickets range from $45 – $200 and can be purchased in advance by visiting the website.

Salute will visit Calgary June 1-6, 2009.

Last night after a glass of wine with a good friend I stopped by the LCBO en route home to pick up some vino. With literally only 2 minutes before the store closed, I didn’t have much time to browse, so I ventured for some trusty Aussie Shiraz. I ended up getting a bottle I’d never tried before – Banrock Station Shiraz (2008).

Since I was pressed for time I really didn’t read the back. But when I got home and was pouring a glass I noticed that the bottle highlighted some eco initiatives the winery participates in. In fact, it really sings the praises of the winery’s environmental platform.

I’ll admit, I think it’s pretty cool. The winery funds environmental projects around the world (AUD $5 million so far) , some of which are right in my backyard. This specific bottle mentioned a ‘Bring Back the Salmon’ project in Lake Ontario (which is about 10 minutes from my house). With Banrock Station being listed as one of the world’s most powerful wine brands last year (#13 on the Power 100 list) by the UK’s Intangible Business, the company should feel good about its position to help environmental projects worldwide.

It was purely coincidental that I bought this wine leading up to Earth Day this week, but hey, I’ll feel (extra) good with each sip.

Tags: #Australia #Shiraz

Good news for consumer wine clubs and online wine sales from the US – a report from VinterActive LLC released today says that tasting room, wine club, internet, and mail order sales grew 7% to a record $3 Billion in 2008.

And, more good news is expected for 2009 – growth of 5% to 10% is forecast for consumer direct purchasing.

Sadly, I think, event sales declined by 11%.

The report, which is release annually, is based on a survey of 3,500+ bonded wineries.

Other stats:

• Total direct sales by U.S. wineries in 2008: $3 Billion
• Overall direct sales growth in 2008: 7%
• Wine club sales growth in 2008: 28%
• Online wine sales growth in 2008: 26%
• Tasting room sales decline in 2008: -1%
• Mail order sales growth in 2008: 24%
• Phone order sales growth in 2008: 3%
• Event sales decline in 2008: -11%
• U.S. wineries projecting consumer direct as their fastest growing sales channel in 2009: 59%

For more information… the complete press release.

Tags: #USA